


Something Strange

by Brumeier



Series: Bite Sized Fic 2020 [2]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghostbusters Fusion, First Kiss, First Meetings, Ghosts, M/M, Parapsychology, Prompt Fill, Teamwork
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-01-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:48:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22382851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: LJ Comment Fic for 80s Movies prompt:Stargate Multiverse, any, Ghostbusters AUIn which Rodney's first client might be his last, if he and his team can't stop the end of the world.
Relationships: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Series: Bite Sized Fic 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610332
Comments: 10
Kudos: 51
Collections: Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2020





	Something Strange

_Are you troubled by strange noises in the middle of the night? Do you experience feelings of dread in your basement or attic? Have you or your family ever seen a spook, specter, or ghost? If the answer is ‘yes’ then don’t wait another minute. Pick up the phone and call the professionals…Ghostbusters. We’re ready to believe you!_

“Dibs!” Laura whispered.

“You can’t call dibs on the first hot guy that walks through the door,” Rodney shot back, his voice decidedly louder.

It probably wasn’t the best first impression, the two of them eagerly watching the hot guy walk through the garage area to the office space in back. Rodney hoped it wasn’t someone looking for directions or curious to see the inside of the old fire station, because if their business was going to get off the ground they needed actual paying customers.

“Go help Radek,” Rodney said, nudging Laura aside with his shoulder.

“Not on your life.”

“Need I remind you that you work for me?”

Laura snorted. “Once I start getting a paycheck, you can start bossing me around.”

“Am I interrupting?” the hot guy asked, one eyebrow raised.

He was wearing black denim jeans and a black leather jacket, and his hair was sticking up in ridiculous cowlicks that somehow made him look rakish instead of unkempt.

Laura started to bring her hand up. “Hi, I’m –”

Rodney hip-checked her out of the way. “Dr. Rodney McKay, founder and lead investigator.”

He shook the guy’s hand vigorously. He had very slender fingers.

“John Sheppard. I, uh. Something strange happened to me.”

“Yes, yes, of course it has. Right this way.”

Rodney’s lab and the still-empty containment unit were in the basement. Radek was already down there, tinkering with the proton packs, so Rodney enlisted his help to get John wired up to the machine that would check his brain function, his body temperature fluctuations, and detect even the slightest hint of ectoplasm on his person. On the monitor, his head glowed orange, yellow, and red.

Laura, who insisted on tagging along, made sure the video recorder was working.

“Tell us what happened,” Rodney said. “No detail too small.”

John looked dubiously at the wires trailing off his forehead. “Well, okay. I just came home from the Center and I was unpacking my groceries.”

“What Center?” Rodney asked for clarification.

“The Youth Center. I teach a guitar clinic there after school for underprivileged kids.”

“Electric or acoustic?” Laura asked.

Rodney hated being interrupted, and he was technically the one in charge of John’s interview. “What does that matter?”

“No detail too small,” Laura replied in a sing-song voice.

“Acoustic,” John clarified. “Anyway, I had a carton of eggs on the counter and when my back was turned I heard this weird popping noise. The eggs were exploding out of the shells, and then cooking on the counter.”

“You’re sure it was the counter and not your stove top?”

“Yes, I came all the way down here because I can’t tell the difference between the stove and the counter.” John drawled in response. “Look, the eggs fried, but none of the other food was affected. Then I heard this growling noise coming from the fridge. When I opened the door it was like a whole other world in there, lots of fog and a big staircase, and a I heard a voice say ‘Zuul’.”

“What do you think it was?” Laura asked.

“You’re asking _me_?” John started pulling electrodes off his forehead. “This was a mistake.”

“No, no, wait!” Rodney wasn’t about to let their first client slip through his hands. Especially one with such appealing facial features. “There are standard protocols we can follow for your case. Radek?”

Radek nodded, looking thoughtful. “Perhaps the building is of interest. I will go to the County Clerk’s office, look for blueprints.”

“I can look for the name ‘Zuul’,” Laura added. “Tobin’s Spirit Guide, maybe. Or Spates Catalog.”

“This could be a case of past life experience intruding on present,” Radek continued to muse. “Or genetic memory, stored in collective unconscious.”

They were starting to lose John, Rodney could tell. Most people didn’t believe in the supernatural, at least not until they had an encounter like John did. Even then, it was all too easy to brush it off as something else.

“Take me to your place,” Rodney blurted out. “Ah, I mean, I should take a look at the kitchen. Get some readings.”

“Readings,” Laura grumbled. “Sure.”

Rodney grabbed his go-bag, containing all the essentials – PKE meter, EMF detector, modified Bacharach model 300 detecting device – and his Metro card. No way was he driving the stupid vehicle Laura had found for them, not if he wanted to make a good impression on John.

“So, I’ll just go check him out. It! I mean, I’ll check out John’s apartment.” Rodney flushed. “Have Chuck hold all my calls.”

“What calls?” Radek asked.

Rodney flipped him off as subtly as possible. 

He didn’t find anything noteworthy at John’s apartment, aside from the fried eggs on the counter, but it was like John’s case opened the floodgates. Suddenly the team was getting calls from all over the city about wayward ghosts that people wanted removed from their homes and businesses. They got so busy they had to hire another team member, a big guy with dreadlocks named Ronon who didn’t exactly believe in the supernatural when he started but really enjoyed playing with the equipment.

It all came back around to John’s case at the end, though. Zuul made an appearance from an alternate dimension, John and his annoying new-agey neighbor Chaya were turned into giant supernatural dogs, and Rodney’s team saved the world from certain destruction, in the form of a 100-foot tall pigeon that left its mark all down Central Park West. (Rodney was never forgiving Radek for that, and he was pretty sure city sanitation felt the same.)

“I love this town!” Ronon shouted from the gutted remains of the temple on the roof of John’s building. He held the business end of his proton pack aloft, waving it around.

“Dibs,” Rodney said, right before kissing a freshly-restored John as enormous gray and white feathers drifted through the air.

_If there’s something strange_   
_In your neighborhood_   
_Who you gonna call?_   
_Ghostbusters!_

**Author's Note:**

>  **AN:** If I had the time, this would’ve been a gazillion words longer. I love _Ghostbusters_ (the original more than the reboot) and have always thought it would be a great fit for SGA. Then again, I say that about everything. LOL!


End file.
